Patrick Goldstein and James Raineyon entertainment and media

Jim Cameron's 'Avatar': Still no trailer?

March 10, 2009 | 12:42
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According to a post from the AceShowbiz blog, James Cameron -- whose face surely appears in the dictionary, right next to the definition of "prickly perfectionist" -- has now refused to approve eight different trailers for "Avatar," his much-anticipated sci-fi epic that's due out this December from 20th Century Fox. The post says Cameron is now at work on his own trailer, and the tireless wonderers, who run the online rumor mills, are wondering about it surfacing in some form at ShoWest later this month.

My sources at Fox aren't so hot right now. And marketing chief Tony Sella never returns any of my calls. But it would hardly be a shock if Cameron is being especially prickly about how to best present the images from "Avatar." If the response to "Watchmen" over the past year is any indicator, the blogosphere tends to wildly overreact to every action -- or perceived action -- involving any hotly anticipated fanboy film.

As it turns out, the original post about Cameron's trailer displeasure, which came from the 3D blog MarketSaw, isn't exactly the kind of story you'd take to the bank. It's essentially a rumor-mill item, concluding with the disclaimer: "Strength of rumor: 8 out of 10 (trusted source)." (A disclaimer other bloggers somehow forget to pass along.) Rival studio marketers say its a little early to be worried about a trailer delay, since Cameron could easily wait until a big early-summer film, like Fox's own "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," to premiere the "Avatar" trailer.

Anyway, is rejecting eight different trailers really such a big deal? I doubt that the studios keep statistics on this sort of thing, but I'm guessing that if there's a record for most rejected trailers, David Fincher still has Cameron beat by a mile.